THE LIGHTS OF ETERNITY

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THE LIGHTS OF ETERNITY

Harav Y. Reuven Rubin Shlita

In Parshas Mikeitz we find that Pharaoh is having problems understanding his strange dreams. His wine steward remembers that two years earlier he had been helped by Yosef’s ability in interpreting his dream and offers up this fact to his master. The Gerer Rebbe, the Lev Simcha Ztl asked, what would have been if the wine steward would have arranged for Yosef to be freed immediately after his own release as promised? Why was it necessary for the poor young man to languish in jail another two years, only to be remembered during a crisis?   The Rebbe further queried: if he had been freed earlier what would have become of him? He was a stateless young jail bird; who would hire him? Who would even care? He very well could have ended up washing windows or working in a pizza parlour! Then, when the moment came for his intervention, he would be nowhere to be found, he would be just some unemployed vagabond and they wouldn’t even know where to look for him. The Rebbe pointed out that from this we can learn an enormous lesson, one that touches us all. Everything is in Hashem’s hands, you can’t rush things, and you can’t force issues. Instead, we must learn to accept that Hashem knows exactly where we are and wants us to fulfil our tikun in the place He has allocated for us. When it comes time for us to move on, it will happen, and from the darkest jail we can become uplifted to new heights. True, we are meant to seek to better ourselves, but we must never lose sight that it is Hashem’s plan by which we live.

In this way we can find strength, no matter what turbulence surges around us, and this is no small matter in times of crises. The Rebbe was known to always be humming or singing. It was one of those sorts of human touches that we must understand was beyond just the quaint need to live with a lilting soundtrack in the mind. The Rebbe lived through much which others would see as sheer pain and difficulty, yet the tunes continued and his mind was always filled with the holiness of rejoicing in Hashem’s gifts.

Chanukah is about this very same dynamic; life can seem dark, yet we light some wicks and feel illuminated by Hashem’s tender care. Much of the material commercialism that we are living through often obscures what our Chanukah lights are meant to give us.  The secular world has torn all mention of G-d from even their most important of holidays, whilst we, although a small minority of the population strive to illuminate our lives with Hashem’s eternal light.

As a youth I had the merit to witness the Bobover Rebbe Rav Shlomo Ztl by the menorah lights over several years.  Bobov was still in its embryonic stage of regeneration. The Rav would light his menorah downstairs from the family living quarters, with the Chassidim surrounding the door where the menorah was placed. The first order of the lighting was the making of the wicks. The Rav would take a small measure of cotton and start to shape it in his holy hands whilst humming a nigun. The room was silent, all one heard was the Rav’s intense devotion. He would roll each wick in his palms, eyes to the heavens. Here was this unique soul, taking care of the most mundane of material growth, and shaping it into a vehicle of holy illumination. After the wicks were placed in the majestic silver menorah, the Rav would carefully fill each cup with oil. When all was in order according to the Rav’s highest standards, he would take a lit shamus candle kiss the mezuzah on the doorpost of his office and in his distinctive manner chant the brochos over this most special mitzvah. After the lighting the Rebbe would sit and sway as if in one with the flickering lights, sighing at times. This was an awesome service to Hashem, and no one can even begin to know what chambers of heaven his holy soul visited during that snatch of time. I wonder if the dancing lights could very well have represented the souls of all those who seek to raise themselves higher. Perhaps the Holy teacher was watching over them, sighing in the knowledge of our struggles, yet humming in the understanding that Hashem would lead each one in his own way at the predetermined time.

Cotton may be grown in the ground, but it can become a beacon of kedushah in the right hands.

Chanukah is celebrated at the beginning of winter, a time not always seen as welcoming to one’s spirit. Its service takes place at the beginning of the night, when the normal workday grinds to a halt. We are asked to step off the treadmill for a moment, to strike a match and create light, finding in this material act a heavenly answer to troubled thoughts. We all await personal redemption at one level or another, Hashem offers us a mitzvah of light to show us the way, and we should just sit a while and absorb the lessons as given.

In Vayigash all becomes clear. Joseph’s brothers see beyond the surface and realize how everything was planned before it even began. “I am Yosef. Does my father still live?” What a dramatic moment! I am Yosef; don’t fear because I know it was all destined to be what it has become. Father still lives because he remained focused on Hashem’s will. Now go and bring him, and let those prophetic dreams see their entirety….

If we have trust, then the Yosef within us, the extra sum which that name connotes, will bring us strength and light.

Although that moment was immense, it was but another step in Hashem’s unfathomable plan for us His Nation.What enormity we Jews live with!  Hum the nigun then and trust the light